tea bowl standards

updated fri 26 oct 07

Elizabeth Priddy on wed 24 oct 07

I had some teabowls evaluated by a tea ceremony
expert and was informed that the ring under the foot
can be of many forms, but it is an essential area of
the bowl as the fingers feel that area in the same manner
that the lips feel the rim and the eyes explore the
decoration and the nose explores the smell of the tea.

All of it matters. And an un-addressed foot would not
be acceptable. The tea ceremony is about a total
experience, all senses, all focused awareness. To
have a foot that is not addressed would be like being
served a Hardee's tea to go with a gourmet meal at
a truly spectacular restaurant, jarring and inapproriate.

All features of your bowl are part of the experience, straight
down to a feature on the interior of a nipple like protrusion
surrounded by a well in the interior base. The color of the
interior should not interfere with the evaluation of the color
of the tea....

There is a lot to it. If it interests you, I suggest you find
an actual expert in it and not rely on my advice. But don't
go around calling anything that can hold water a tea bowl.
It would be like calling any two crossed pieces of clay a
crucifix, there is more to it than that. And the tea ceremony
is linked to Shinto religion in similar ways as the crucifix
is to catholicism.

I like that there are things with meaning in the world. It
allows for greater possibilities than the mundane life.

I happen to use a teabowl type bowl for water. I drink from
it with reverence, as water is also essential for a quality
life. But my water bowl is glazed with swirling beautiful
glazes that shimmer through the cool clear water as I start
my day. It is part of a meditation and prayer.

Elizabeth Priddy
Beaufort, NC - USA

Natural Instincts Conference Information:
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http://www.elizabethpriddy.com
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Kendra Bogert on wed 24 oct 07

I've really just begun to think that my pieces might be very important like this. I just made a bunch of Saki cups, and I'd love to think that they would be acceptable for someone's ceremony... I had a friend take pictures of me trimming pots today, so I'll put those up sometime soon! :-)

Lee Love on wed 24 oct 07

Most "tea bowls" in America will more likely have nuts in
them as they will matcha. It might be good to call them "bowls
inspired by traditional matcha jawan. "

But there is nothing "mystical" about the tea bowl
you can't learn. Get yourself a whisk and some matcha. The process
will tell you how good the bowl is for that use.

It is like what we call Shino. A Japanese potter friend told
me, "Shino isn't a glaze. It is a way of firing." Shino is a
glaze, a high alumina clay body, and specific shapes and forms.
Tenmoku is a form as well as a glaze. These Sung bowls were used on
pedestals.

You can't always trust tea experts either. Just like you
can't take the judgement of an ikebana or bonsai expert, as far as the
asethic merits of the particular clay object goes. Ceramic experts
are the best at that. (Ikebana people sometimes us the most butt
ugly pots!)

So often, when one society absorbs culture from another,
it is transformed. It is where much of human innovation has come
from. We don't have to say we are sorry for making a form our own.
It is good to know what the culture that originated the form things
about it, but we need not be handcuffed by what they tell us. We
can go on to make something original, inspired by the tradtional.
Just know oranges from apples, that's all.

--
Lee in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/

"For a democracy of excellence, the goal is not to reduce things to a
common denominator but to raise things to a shared worth."
--Paolo Soleri

Marcia Selsor on thu 25 oct 07

I made over 100 tea bowls for a Chinese tea ceremony /tea tasting
fundraiser for our local art museum. The experts had recently
returned from China and had several exotic teas for the ceremony.
They had shown me the bowls they used prior to my making the new
bowls.The tea-bowls were small compared to Japanese style tea bowls.
Mine were porcelain and had tiny ringed feet. They were more on a
scale with Yixing teapots. The tea connoisseurs were pleased with my
bowls and ended up with any extras I had.
It doesn't have to be Japanese just because it is a tea bowl.

Marcia Selsor
http://marciaselsor.com

Lee Love on thu 25 oct 07

On 10/25/07, Marcia Selsor wrote:

> It doesn't have to be Japanese just because it is a tea bowl.

Actually, what you made is more of a cup for leaf tea. In
Japan, they are called sencha cups, for fine leave tea.

Tea bowls are the way they are because you work a bamboo
whisk in them. They lost this tradition in China, though their Zen
monks originated it.

Originally, rice bowls were used. You can get your
measure for a ricebowl by making a circle with both hands, touching
the tips of your middle finger and your thumbs. Mine is 13mm.
Woman's rice bowls are smaller, not to unfarily discriminate, but
rather, to fit their hands. It is the same with yunomi.

--
Lee in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/

"For a democracy of excellence, the goal is not to reduce things to a
common denominator but to raise things to a shared worth."
--Paolo Soleri

John Post on thu 25 oct 07

Lee,
I believe you meant to say 13cm. 13mm is pretty darn tiny, but it might
make a good bowl for a squirrel.
John

> You can get your
>measure for a ricebowl by making a circle with both hands, touching
>the tips of your middle finger and your thumbs. Mine is 13mm.
>Woman's rice bowls are smaller, not to unfarily discriminate, but
>rather, to fit their hands. It is the same with yunomi.
>
>
>
>

Lee Love on thu 25 oct 07

These two pages are good comparisons of tea in China and Japan.
Note the way the two entries are titled.

Kung u or Gong Fu tea uses tiny cups. John Bloefeld's
book on Chinese tea is a good reference. (note Chinese cups and
Japanese bowls.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_tea_culture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tea_ceremony

Bloefeld's book:

http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Art-Tea-John-Blofeld

--
Lee in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/

"For a democracy of excellence, the goal is not to reduce things to a
common denominator but to raise things to a shared worth."
--Paolo Soleri

"Let them have no reason to complain of our copying the brutal example
of the British army." --George Washington

Lee Love on thu 25 oct 07

On 10/25/07, John Post wrote:
> Lee,
> I believe you meant to say 13cm. 13mm is pretty darn tiny, but it might
> make a good bowl for a squirrel.

Yes, good way to test is make a circle as I said.

> > You can get your
> >measure for a ricebowl by making a circle with both hands, touching
> >the tips of your middle finger and your thumbs.
--
Lee in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

"Let them have no reason to complain of our copying the brutal example
of the British army." --George Washington

http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/

Marta Matray on thu 25 oct 07

Lee Love wrote:

>>>> You can get your
>measure for a ricebowl by making a circle with both hands, touching
>the tips of your middle finger and your thumbs. Mine is 13mm.
>>>>

very tiny little-little!
sorry lee, i just couldnt resist...
13 mm is less than half an inch!
i'm sure you meant centimeter (cm) :)